iPhone And PHP Intergration

ironclaw

Hi Folks,

I'm looking to use PHP to query and update an SQL database. It will be in the simple call to a script with a few variables e.g. update.php?user=abc&&pass=123 etc

On that point, how would I sent POST versus GET messages?

What I'm looking to do is for the PHP script to return a value e.g. 1 = Updated DB 0 = Error and for the iPhone to interpret this. So return a value, assign to an int and on that int display a message.

Or for another function, query a DB for a name and for the PHP to return all the information from that name e.g. Age, Address and display in a table. Would for the PHP to generate a XML file be a better way to go?

I can write the PHP at a stretch but the iPhone side has me puzzled. I'm sure its an library I haven't found.

Can anyone help me on that?

Many Thanks,

ironclaw

The Corinthian

Let me get this straight; an iPhone queries a PHP script, which then does a look up on a MySQL database and returns a value which is then displayed (or triggers an appropriate display) on the iPhone?

If so, you are talking about two separate applications; one for the client (iPhone) and one for the server (PHP, MySQL). I will presume that you have some basic technical understanding of the latter.

There are various means that you can use to develop for the iPhone, from native Objective-C applications, through to some third party platforms, such as Titanium, and even just a Web-base thin client (eliminating the need for any knowledge in iPhone development, beyond UI).

Given your post, I would suspect that your programming skills are limited, so perhaps the last of these may be the way to go. I've found MobiOne is not a bad WYSIWYG for knocking up prototype UI's, as HTML, for the iPhone - and once you've done that you could use the resultant code to act as a display layer for your server-based application.

If you feel that a native iPhone app is a better idea, you'll find plenty of threads here that will point you in the right direction.

ironclaw

The Corinthian wrote: »

Let me get this straight; an iPhone queries a PHP script, which then does a look up on a MySQL database and returns a value which is then displayed (or triggers an appropriate display) on the iPhone?

If so, you are talking about two separate applications; one for the client (iPhone) and one for the server (PHP, MySQL). I will presume that you have some basic technical understanding of the latter.

There are various means that you can use to develop for the iPhone, from native Objective-C applications, through to some third party platforms, such as Titanium, and even just a Web-base thin client (eliminating the need for any knowledge in iPhone development, beyond UI).

Given your post, I would suspect that your programming skills are limited, so perhaps the last of these may be the way to go. I've found MobiOne is not a bad WYSIWYG for knocking up prototype UI's, as HTML, for the iPhone - and once you've done that you could use the resultant code to act as a display layer for your server-based application.

If you feel that a native iPhone app is a better idea, you'll find plenty of threads here that will point you in the right direction.

Hi, I've actually come from a web development background and I'm currently learning Obj-C. While I'm not a master of either I am learning.

I can get the PHP side to work, the trick is getting the iPhone to get a response. So if an update was successful to a SQL DB, the phone would get a response and act on it. If the update failed, the phone would get a different error code.

What response does the PHP have to generate? Or would I be working with HTTP headers?

The Corinthian

ironclaw wrote: »

What response does the PHP have to generate? Or would I be working with HTTP headers?

Whatever response your client finds easiest to read. I don't code in Objective-C, but my guess is that an XML based response may be the best way to go, in that Objective-C likely has an XML parser library you can use.

How to implement this, and whether there are any issues you should be aware of (that you need to have a DTD referenced or text/xml content-type headers) that are specific to iPhone development are something you need to read up on.

I'm afraid it's a case of RTFM.

Razzuh

I'm having a go at something similar. I've read up on a few options and there isn't any easy one as far as I can make out. I'm leaning towards using JSON. You might find this blog article helpful:
http://tempered.mobi/%20
It gives a simple example for a PHP JSON web service with code for both sides (PHP and obj-c). Don't miss the link to the source at the bottom.

techguy

+1 on JSON!

From a PHP point of view JSON is very easy to work with. Not sure about the Obj-C side of things though.

ironclaw

Cheers folks. Finally making sense.